The outbreak has created panic among farmers and the state animal resource development (ARD) department has sent teams across Sabang to tackle the situation.

Trinamool Rajya Sabha member Manas Bhunia has claimed that more than 350 cows have died in Bural, Bishnupur, Bhemua and Mohar gram panchayat areas.(HT File Photo)

An outbreak of the highly-infectious foot and mouth disease (FMD) has killed more than 100 cows across Sabang area in West Bengal’s West Midnapore district over the past seven days, officials said on Friday.

The outbreak has created panic among farmers and the state animal resource development (ARD) department has sent teams across Sabang to tackle the situation.

A contagious viral disease that affects cows, pigs, sheep, goats, deer, and other animals that have divided hooves, FMD has caused severe loss to farmers in many countries.

District administration officials said they have been informed about deaths of more than 100 cows and calves in the last one week. All the deaths have taken place in an area that is around 125 km to the west of Kolkata.

Trinamool Rajya Sabha member Manas Bhunia has claimed that more than 350 cows have died in Bural, Bishnupur, Bhemua and Mohar gram panchayat areas. On Friday, a team of ARD department officials visited these areas.

“I have been informed by people in these gram panchayat areas that more than 350 cows have died and more than 5,700 cows have been affected. As soon as I got the information I contacted district officials and requested them to take action,” he said.

District officials said FMD primarily affects calves and they are surprised to see so many fully grown cows dying. In the past, FMD has claimed livestock in Punjab, Haryana and Tamil Nadu but there has never been an outbreak of such a big scale in Bengal.